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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Reactions to Melancon/Lowrie-Weiland trade

Here are some quick reactions to the trade today (from respected tweeters, woofers):

McTaggart:the Astros are unlikely to contend next year, so having a lights-out closer isn’t tantamount. Expect the club to get a good look next year at several arms they believe could close in the future. The bottom line is the Astros traded one young player and two more in return. The rebuildling continues.

Keith Law (Insider-only):Jeff Luhnow's first move as general manager of the Houston Astros isn't a huge one, but it's a great deal for them and shows just how badly the club was mismanaged under Ed Wade over the last few years.

Baseball America:First on new Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow's to-do list: acquire viable options to play shortstop and catcher, the two most demanding positions on the field. His search continues for a catcher to cover for the injured Jason Castro, but odds are he found his shortstop in a trade with the Red Sox.

FanGraphs:A healthy Lowrie will make this look like a steal for Houston three years down the road, but we haven’t seen a healthy Lowrie all too often. It’s entirely possible that Weiland will outproduce Melancon next season by himself, but contenders often have to overpay a bit to deal with their pressing needs.

Sky Kalkman:Well crap, it appears I'm going to have to give @jluhnlow the Friedman treatment and fanboy all his moves no matter what.

Jay Jaffe:Those of you clucking about Jed Lowrie's durability, are you really going to hold a 4-month bout of mono against him?

Eno Sarris:Weiland for Melancon would have been fair. Adding Lowrie was a mistake.

Thanks Jon Heyman for the reality check.....Melancon was an average closer for the worst team in baseball, an absolutely no pressure situation, and now he's going back to the high pressure AL East, from which the Yankees sent him packing in the first place....Hopefuly he can be a piece of the rebuilt Sox bullpen, but I'd say 8th inning guy is his absolute ceiling; anyone who thinks that he's a "high level closer" is delusional...

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